Sponsor
Nancy Mace
Representative · R-SC
Representative · R-SC
The bill increases safety and clarity at federally funded shelters by excluding registered sex offenders, but does so at the cost of greater housing instability, potential criminalization of vulnerable people, funding risks for shelters, and shifts of risk to less-regulated facilities.
Parents, children, and other residents of federally funded domestic-violence and homeless shelters will face reduced exposure to registered sex offenders because the bill bars registrants from accessing those federally funded facilities.
Operators of federally funded shelters (local governments and nonprofit providers) gain a clear statutory rule and the explicit ability to refer registered offenders to non‑federally funded options, simplifying intake decisions and liability management.
Low-income and homeless individuals required to register may lose access to federally funded homeless or domestic‑violence shelter services, increasing housing instability and unsheltered homelessness for vulnerable people.
People subject to registration could face criminal penalties (up to five years) for entering shelters or failing to self-identify, deterring them from seeking help and potentially worsening public-safety and welfare outcomes.
Federally funded shelters risk losing federal grant funding for a year if they inadvertently serve a registrant, creating acute funding instability for nonprofits and local governments that serve vulnerable populations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars federally funded domestic violence and homeless shelters from serving people on the National Sex Offender Registry and penalizes violators and covered registrants.
Official title: To prohibit certain sex offenders from entering or using the services of certain domestic violence and homeless shelters, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 20, 2026 by Nancy Mace · Last progress February 20, 2026
Prohibits any domestic violence shelter or homeless shelter that receives federal funds from providing shelter or services to people required to register on the National Sex Offender Registry. Shelters that violate the ban lose eligibility for federal funds for the following fiscal year. The bill also bars covered registrants from entering or using federally funded shelters (except to request information about non‑covered shelters), requires immediate disclosure of registry status if they enter, and makes knowing violations by a covered registrant a criminal offense punishable by a fine, imprisonment up to five years, or both; the ban and related provisions take effect 180 days after enactment.